Pain
by Solitary Shadow
Summary: A translated version of my Korean fic of the same name. Luigi's in pain. Snake wants to know about the other. Not the bestest of timing. Fluffy friendship at the end.


**Disclaimer:** Snake and Luigi are property of Konami and Nintendo.

**Author's Note:** Alrighty, I suppose I couldn't leave my Korean fic I randomly put on site a few days ago without a proper translation. You people deserve to know what insane fluffiness Snake and Luigi get into. xD

It's actually not an entirely fluffy piece. Fluff only comes later. But other than that, I could substitute this for the beginning of 'Within the Cardboard Box', with a little cardboard-box segment edited in. This is actually a bit closer to realism in terms, I think; Snake is just that gruff and unlikable at the beginning, but is really quite a nice guy. Heehee. It's also rather heartwarming. No kissing or groping or anything here. It's like typical WtCB material, let us leave it at that.

It's a direct translation of the Korean original. I've added in a few connectives and broke sentences where necessary, but everything I wrote in the Korean version is in here. So you're missing nothing in terms of storyline. I've saved Snake's sassy speeches as well. Fun times. xD

But for the Korean Author's Note...

... Why would you want to read that? O.o That's untranslated. Sorry. But I didn't say anything important anyway.

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Pain.

That was all Luigi could think about right now. He couldn't for the love of the world think about where he was, what he was doing - he just didn't _care_ about those tiny details. Right now he could understand two things, and two things only: that it was cold, and he was in pain. As he slowly opened his eyes, he realized that he was in Shadow Moses Island. To be frank, the green-clad plumber had absolutely no idea what he was doing there of all places, when there were plenty of other stages available; but the plain truth was that it was only him in that place, without anyone else in sight. This served as a small source of relief for the younger Mario brother - he didn't like having to deal with other people.

... That was, until he heard a rustling sound from a corner.

"What thoughts do you carry around in that head of yours?" Luigi heard an irritated, somewhat angry voice calling him from behind. He didn't even look back, simply not caring enough to turn around and face the person who had spoken; but the person just came up to him anyway. It was as if he simply wanted to talk about anything. He could not provide words of comfort; he could only give scathing words of annoyance; but it just looked as if he was dying to say something.

"Go away."

"What do mean, '_go away_'?" The irritated voice spoke again. "_You're_ the one intruding in my personal space. I don't care if this is a brawling stage, I'm still the owner of this place. Where is it written that I can't talk to you?"

Luigi didn't bother answering. He just went to a corner and leaned against the wall.

"Why do you keep on coming here? If all you want is to sit down and rest, there are plenty of other places available that you can go to. But for the past three weeks I've seen you hanging around here and only here. It's not like you _do _anything special - you just sit here and stare into space."

"Snake... leave me alone..." The green-clad plumber slurred, but the other man kept on talking.

"You intrigue me," Snake said. "You don't talk to anyone, you don't seem to enjoy meeting new people, and you don't like fighting. But the funny thing is... whenever you do fight, you're actually pretty strong. Do you just happen to know some kind of strategy? Or is it just experience?"

No reply came.

"Tired, eh? All right, fine.... if you want to talk, come to me. I'll listen to you all you want." With that, Snake retreated to his corner and began to polish a gun he had taken apart prior to their onesided conversation. He had suddenly fallen silent, as if he had never spoken in the first place. That was his _modus operandi_, his way of life.

Luigi closed his eyes and said nothing. He pulled down his sleeves and hugged his knees tightly, thinking wistfully that it would warm him up a little; but against a steel wall, it was virtually useless. Of course, leaning against a cold steel wall had its advantages; his sensations were numbed and he couldn't really feel the pain anymore. Thinking about it, he recalled that he had been injured in a fight against Link and Zelda. He hadn't bled, but his back and limbs were bruised and his face was slightly swollen. Snake had noticed, of course; he was trained to notice changes like that in people, but he hadn't said anything about it. Meddling in other people's business didn't pay. He knew that a number of Smashers, Luigi included, were scared of him and often didn't even acknowledge them save for the brawl matches.

But he couldn't let the younger Mario brother stay there, shivering.

"It'll be cold there..."

The soldier moved forward as if to stand up, but then sat back down again. Would it really be all right to just go and touch someone? Sure, Luigi looked ill and almost frozen - he did need help, but...

There were plenty of people in the world who disliked being touched or making contact with anyone else. It wasn't something that could be discovered just by looking, however, so Snake just decided to go for it. He stood up, walked over to Luigi, picked him up and carried him back to his space, holding him gently against his chest. In this island, which was cold by nature, and in a base made completely of steel, it was the only way to get warm.

"You... I think you're a bit feverish."

"Mm..."

As a mercenary, taking charge of other people's affairs wasn't something that he was trained to do. But he was worried for the younger Mario brother; a part of his logical, sensible mind told him to get out of Shadow Moses and just report the situation to Dr. Mario, who would take care of Luigi, but then if he did that he would have a hard time reassuring himself that everything was fine. He didn't want to leave Luigi with anyone else, but hadn't much idea what else to do. He had never needed to know until now.

"Damn it..."

He muttered darkly to himself, but he nonetheless stroked the other's head softly and held him tighter. The mercenary knew that keeping the green-clad plumber warm was priority, and as for the pain and swellings, he figured that that would settle down with a good amount of sleep. With that in mind, Snake did his best to share as much body heat as possible.

"You're warm." Luigi murmured drowsily, nuzzling into the mercenary's arms.

"... Sleep a while. That'll make it a bit better."

"Okay..." Luigi obediently closed his eyes, and in less than five minutes he was asleep. Snake smiled quietly from above.

"... You know, you're actually quite cute when you're asleep..."


End file.
